Federal judge blocks North Dakota's six-week abortion ban

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a recent North Dakota law that would ban abortions as early as six weeks — the earliest prohibition in the nation — calling the measure “clearly unconstitutional” and a “troubling law.”

“The United States Supreme Court has unequivocally said that no state may deprive a woman of the choice to terminate her pregnancy at a point prior to viability. North Dakota House Bill 1456 is clearly unconstitutional under an unbroken stream of United States Supreme Court authority,” Judge Daniel Hovland wrote Monday in a 22-page ruling granting a preliminary injunction.

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The Supreme Court’s 40-year-old Roe v. Wade decision established that women must be able to obtain abortions up until a fetus becomes viable — generally around 23 or 24 weeks into a pregnancy. But the North Dakota legislation prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, often as early as six weeks.

Abortion opponents ripped Hovland’s ruling, which stops the ban from taking effect when it was set to on Aug. 1 pending further litigation.

“A single district judge is thwarting the pro-life legislation brought about by a surge of grassroots momentum … and passed by the majority of the North Dakota state Legislature,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List. She added that the judge ignores scientific breakthroughs — such as advances in embryology and ultrasound technology — that have shed light on “the reality of life’s beginnings.”

“Judge Hovland is blocking the will of the people of North Dakota to protect unborn children and women,” Dannenfelser said.

In his ruling, Hovland, who was appointed by George W. Bush, also took North Dakota officials to task for mounting a potentially “expensive” defense of a law that he said would undoubtedly be struck down.

“Today’s decision ensures for the moment that the women of North Dakota won’t need to worry whether they will still have the same constitutionally protected rights as women living in other parts of the United States,” said Bebe Anderson, director of the U.S. Legal Program at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Red River Women’s Clinic.

The clinic is the only abortion facility in the state, and officials there have contended that if the law remains on the books, they would lose 90 percent of their business and likely be forced to shut down.

North Dakota state Rep. Bette Grande, the original sponsor of the legislation, said it was never her intention to ban all abortions, only to declare that a fetal heartbeat is the beginning of life.

“We don’t stop beating hearts in our society. We do everything to save the beating heart,” she said in a phone interview. “The life is that beating heart. It doesn’t matter if we have one clinic in North Dakota or 50 clinics in North Dakota.”

Grande noted that another law recently passed in North Dakota would ban abortions after 20 weeks and is still set to take effect on Aug. 1.